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Thalidomide: patented in Germany as a non-toxic cure-all for
sleeplessness and morning sickness. A wonder drug with no side
effects. We know differently now. Today, thalidomide is a byword
for tragedy and drug reform - a sign of what happens when things
aren't done 'the right way'. But when it was released in the 1950s,
it was the best thing since penicillin - something that doctors
were encouraged to prescribe to all of their patients. Nobody could
anticipate what it actually did: induce sleeping, prevent morning
sickness, and drastically harm unborn children. But, whilst
thalidomide rampaged and ravaged throughout most of the West, it
never reached the United States. It landed on the desk of Dr
Frances Kelsey, and there it stayed as she battled bureaucracy,
patriarchy, and the Establishment in an effort to prove that it was
dangerous. Frankie is her story.
Through the infamous divorce of her parents, Ada Lovelace became
the most talked-about child in Georgian Britain. This riveting
biography tells the extraordinary yet little known story of her
life and times-when mathematics was as fashionable as knitting
among women and Ada became the world's first computer programmer.
But for her era's view on gender, Ada would single-handedly have
started the digital age more than two centuries ago.
The partnership of Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace was one that
would change science forever. They were an unlikely pair - one the
professor son of a banker, the other the only child of an acclaimed
poet and a social-reforming mathematician - but perhaps that is why
their work was so revolutionary. They were the pioneers of computer
science, creating plans for what could have been the first
computer. They each saw things the other did not: it may have been
Charles who designed the machines, but it was Ada who could see
their potential. But what were they like? And how did they work
together? Using previously unpublished correspondence between them,
Charles and Ada explores the relationship between two remarkable
people who shared dreams far ahead of their time.
`I am sure this slim volume will constitute an invaluable aide to
anyone seeking to set out on our stony path' - Frederick Forsyth
CBE, author of 'The Day of the Jackal' and many other international
bestsellers `Writing Fiction is a little pot of gold... Screenplay
by Syd Field for film, Writing Fiction by James Essinger for
fiction. It's that simple.' William Osborne, novelist and
screenwriter Writing Fiction - a user-friendly guide is a must-read
if you want to write stories to a professional standard. It draws
on the author's more than thirty years of experience as a
professional writer, and on the work and ideas of writers
including: * Anthony Burgess * Joseph Conrad * George Eliot * Ken
Follett * Frederick Forsyth * Dan Harmon * Ernest Hemingway * David
Lodge * Norman Mailer * John Milton * Ben Parker * J.K. Rowling *
William Shakespeare * Martin Cruz Smith * J.R.R. Tolkien The
twenty-four chapters cover every important matter you need to know
about, including: devising a compelling story, creating and
developing characters, plotting, `plants', backstory, suspense,
dialogue, `show' and `tell', and how to make your novel more real
than reality. Also featuring special guest advice from legendary
screenwriter Bob Gale, who wrote the three immortal `Back to the
Future' movies (1985, 1989 and 1990), and novelist and screenwriter
William Osborne, whose many screen credits include the co-writing
of the blockbuster `Twins' (1988), this highly entertaining book
gives you all the advice and practical guidance you need to make
your dream of becoming a published fiction writer come true.
Jacquard's Web is the story of some of the most ingenious inventors
the world has ever known, a fascinating account of how a hand-loom
invented in Napoleonic France led to the development of the modern
information age. James Essinger, a master story-teller, shows
through a series of remarkable and meticulously researched
historical connections (spanning two centuries and never
investigated before) that the Jacquard loom kick-started a process
of scientific evolution which would lead directly to the
development of the modern computer. The invention of Jacquard's
loom in 1804 enabled the master silk-weavers of Lyons to weave
fabrics 25 times faster than had previously been possible. The
device used punched cards, which stored instructions for weaving
whatever pattern or design was required; it proved an outstanding
success. These cards can very reasonably be described as the
world's first computer programmes. In this engaging and delightful
book, James Essinger reveals a plethora of extraordinary links
between the nineteenth-century world of weaving and today's
computer age: to give just one example, modern computer graphics
displays are based on exactly the same principles as those employed
in Jacquard's special woven tableaux. Jacquard's Web also
introduces some of the most colourful and interesting characters in
the history of science and technology: the modest but exceptionally
dedicated Jacquard himself, the brilliant but temperamental
Victorian polymath Charles Babbage, who dreamt of a cogwheel
computer operated using Jacquard cards, and the imaginative and
perceptive Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's only legitimate daughter.
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